Well today was a first. The team met at the plane to apply the race numbers and decals. We polished the plane's leading edges and cleaned the belly of any oil residue. In mid-job, a dashing well-dressed gent on horseback rides up along side the plane at mid-field and asks if Teresa is up to a 'wager'?
We were a tad leery of such a request especially with real work to do to still prepare the plane for Wednesday's dawn departure. However once asked 'what's the wager' the man simply said ' He would like to race his trusty steed against the flying machine we were busy cleaning'.
We suspected his formal speech and affectations were part of the airfield's 95th anniversary celebration goings on as he sported pressed jodhpurs, a fedora and sportcoat reminiscent of the early 20th century. However there was no announcements of such press events or marketing efforts at the FBO - it seemed the man truly just wanted to test his 4-legged sprinter's instant acceleration and whinny against the Piper's tri-gear slow roll to its full 180 horsepower airborne growl.
Sadly, with the extreme crosswind gusts of up to 30 knots, and the need to keep preparing for the business facets of fielding a legal race plane, the team prudently decided to decline the machine vs. equine challenge. No doubt it would have been fun but we suspect for at least half of the take-off roll and rotation, the hooves would have INDEED prevailed over the prop.
-editor
I'd like to see him take on The Volt! 100% torque at zero rpm.
ReplyDelete'AMP' Thanks for the comment. You are VERY observant. Indeed Teresa would have given the pony a chance to pant especially in 'Sport' mode. - I wonder if horses come with those? - ed
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